


Nine Year Rampage

by The_Unlimited



Series: Vanitas' journey through light [3]
Category: Dead Rising, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Gen, I never learned what the hell I'm doing, More tags to be added as time goes on, OC Vanitas, Post-Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Pre-Kingdom Hearts I, This'll go in any direction ever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:15:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26655034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited
Summary: Vanitas teams up with the crew he escaped Radiant... Hollow Bastion from. With Traverse Town as their new home base, the group goes to other worlds in search of people to help against the Heartless, along with searching for clues against the mysterious Xehanort Vanitas is looking for... And maybe causing some trouble along the way
Relationships: Aerith & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Cid & Vanitas, Frank West & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Leon & Vanitas, Yuffie & Vanitas
Series: Vanitas' journey through light [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1246529
Kudos: 1





	1. Aerith's First Mission (Story 1, Chapter 1)

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a fic that can be entirely pure fanfiction that isn't just adding characters from different stories to other stories. Little flashes of the nine year rampage from when Vanitas was trying to kill Xehanort before he had met Sora. Lots of cussing, lots of violence will ensue. Remember, Vanitas's voice is still pretty deep at this point of the series now. Also, don't expect the stories to come out in the right order they happen. I'm pretty much making this up as I go along

_**Three years after the Fall of Radiant Garden** _

Vanitas Jordan practiced hand to hand combat with the instructor he had been training with for the past six months. To say that the student had surpassed the teacher was an understatement. Truth be told, this martial arts teacher with moves that were close to wrestling that he was currently fighting wasn't the only martial arts teacher Vanitas had been learning things from. With about... four different forms he had learned, combining all of them into his own fighting style hadn't taken long.

Vanitas called out as his instructor, Frank, hit him in the stomach, even though he still couldn't feel it. Vanitas then grabbed Frank's wrist and pulled back the arm with both hands, pulling the man in. He then kneed Frank in the stomach, making him call out, himself. Vanitas then twisted Frank's arm behind himself and rammed him right into the padded wall.

"Uncle!" Frank called out. "You hear me? Uncle! Uncle!"

Vanitas breathed out as he let go of Frank's arms, and the man winced as he gripped his left wrist with his right hand.

"Gotta admit, you're one hell of a fighter, Vanitas," Frank admitted.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Vanitas commented, picking up a water bottle and taking a sip. He placed the bottle back down on the ground and looked up at his much taller instructor. "I'm guessing that didn't come up much when you were, 'covering wars, you know'?"

"Never gonna let me live that phrase down, eh?" Frank asked with a smirk.

"No," Vanitas confirmed with a smirk.

The two men took off their sweat stained tank tops and started dabbing at their bare chests with towels to dry themselves off, Vanitas mainly for appearances again.

"How are you guys doing?" Vanitas asked the man with sympathy.

"It's been touch and go for a while," Frank admitted. "Hell, it's been touch and go for the last year since you helped us escape our world. But, we've been managing. Little Katey keeps dropping hints to Chuck and Stacey that she's ready to be a big sister. Drives 'em crazy."

"I bet," Vanitas said with a smirk.

"Chuck has still just been super relieved that your friend, Aerith, managed to find a cure for the zombie infection," Frank continued. "I mean, I am, too, but it's different for him 'cause it was his daughter. Celebrating while rebuilding their lives has sort of been his main focus ever since we got here. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up happening because they celebrated _too_ well..."

"I can see that happening," Vanitas admitted with a smirk as they put on fresh shirts. "You excited to not have to deal with zombies anymore?"

"Hell, yes," Frank said. "I mean, there were moments where running over them could be fun, but it could eventually reach a point where... it's just boring."

"Got that right," Vanitas said, picking up his bag and lifting it next to his head. *** _1_ ***

"Something tells me that Chuck would've preferred surviving another outbreak over eventually having to give Katey the Talk, though," Frank smirked as he swung his own bag over his shoulder. "Especially with her little friend, Nick, tagging along."

"I think he's all right, now," Vanitas pointed out as they left their training room and down the stairs of the building. "I mean, she just turned eight, and he turned nine. The man's still years away before having to deal with that mess."

"I know," Frank admitted. "It's just the fear of knowing it's coming that scares him." Frank sighed out. "God knows I'm terrified of it." *** _2_ ***

Vanitas opened the front door of the building, and the two friends walked out into the streets of Traverse Town.

"While we're on the subject matter of kids, how's Frankie doing?" Vanitas asked.

"She's turning twelve in just a few weeks," Frank said. "First birthday of hers since we got here, and we never did manage to find her mom before we left. I'm doing my best in planning to try to make the transition easier, but there's only so much I can do."

"Hey, if you need any help, I'm here for you, man," Vanitas assured his friend with a pat on the shoulder.

"I'm aware," Frank said with a grateful smile. "You, Leon, and Cid helped us find a good place to live after our world fell. Then you helped me find a profession for me to do here. Then your friend, Aerith, helped Frankie when she got her first period."

Both men winced as they remembered the yelling, screaming, and crying that had happened that day. That last one might have been from them a couple of times 'cause of the preteen's screamed insults when they tried to help.

"Well, see you later," Vanitas said, waving goodbye to his friend as they parted ways.

"Night, V!" Frank called back as they walked down the roads.

Vanitas walked down the roads in his street clothes. Black jeans, his same black and white sneakers, a light grey shirt with a small Nautica logo on the right chest, and a red hoodless jacket with a black lining over the chest and shoulders. He made sure to move his sidearm, his Colt M1911 handgun, to the small of his back tucked in his pants in case any Heartless showed up.

Things were always so unpredictable on these worlds nowadays. The war against Maleficent's conquest to rule all worlds was moving at damn near a turtle's pace. The last world that had been attacked by Heartless, they didn't know it was happening until near the last minute. During the madness, Leon and Vanitas had only managed to evacuate two people to the ship. Only a handful managed to reach Traverse Town after the world had fallen.

Things were getting worse by the day, and they had to do their best to try to change that.

Vanitas walked back into the apartment that he shared with his friends, walking into the living area. He sighed out as he tossed his gym bag on the couch, stepping over Yuffie's shiriken as he walked to the operations room. He walked in to see Cid working on the computer with the others staring at it.

"Hey, what's up?" Vanitas asked, walking up to the computer with his friends.

"We've gotten reports from our allies that another form of Earth has a pretty large Heartless infestation," Cid explained, showing the email in question, including pictures of Shadows and Soldiers running through forests and deserts.

"We can take care of Shadows and Soldiers," Leon assured him.

"Well, these guys might be a problem," Cid said, opening a file of more pictures.

The Heartless seemingly got bigger with each picture. Mega-Shadows, Large Bodies, Possessors, Powerwilds, Crescendos, Wyverns, Neoshadows, Darksides, and more than a couple of Behemoths.

"If there's this many Heartless on one world, how has it not fallen yet?" Aerith asked. "I mean, I'm not complaining, I just don't understand."

"Our allies mentioned an ever increasing number of missing persons cases," Cid told them. "All around the world. That combined with how rapidly the Heartless are multiplying on that world can't be a coincidence. Someone's building an army."

"So we gotta take 'em out," Vanitas announced. "We need a win after what happened with the last world."

"Agreed," Cid said, turning his chair to face them. "Why don't you take Aerith with you? We've been promising her for a while to take her on missions after her training was finished, and I'd say it's more than finished."

"Why couldn't it have been finished when we went to the last world?" Vanitas muttered.

"Hey, that's done and over with," Leon told him. "We gotta move on, so let's get to work with this world."

"You guys work the ship, I'll watch over Yuffie," Cid told them.

"I wonder which one of us has the harder job," Aerith commented. "Us trying to take on an army of Heartless ourselves, or you watching over this hyperactive ten year old."

"Hey!" Yuffie exclaimed. She looked offended for all of two seconds before she smiled widely. "Oh, who am I kidding? It's an accurate claim."

The makeshift family laughed at that before getting their gear ready. Leon prepped his gunblade before making it disappear. Vanitas did an ammo check for the immediate guns in his sling, and made sure his melee weapons were prepared. Aerith twirled her quarterstaff before attaching it to her back.

After saying their goodbyes to their friends, the trio left their home and made their way through the three districts to the town exit. They walked out the doors and climbed aboard Cid's Gummi ship.

"All right," Vanitas said at the helm, turning on the computer so they could see Cid. "You got the coordinates for this version of Earth?"

"Sending them now," Cid informed them. "Earth 268. Apparently, they also used to have problems with zombies."

"How come every Earth we go to has had a problem with some form of zombie virus?" Leon asked in annoyance.

"Hey, it hasn't been every Earth," Vanitas assured him.

"This is the third one out of the four we've visited," Leon told him. "The ones you dubbed the Walking Dead and Dead Rising ones weren't exactly fun. Especially the Walking Dead one."

"Hey, zombies are good target practice," Vanitas pointed out. "So I feel we won in that situation."

"Guys, can we get going now?" Aerith asked.

Both guys answered with their own renditions of, "Right, sorry."

They started the ship and piloted it up in the air. Together, the three of them flew the ship into the Lanes Between and to the next world.

* * *

When they arrived on Earth, Vanitas suggested that they land in Africa, since that was where most combinations of forests and deserts tended to be. They landed the ship on a hotel building in Nigeria, and used the Munny converter Cid provided them to pay their way into a hotel room for the night.

"What do we do next?" Aerith asked.

"Now, we blend in," Vanitas told her as they started dressing for the night.

Vanitas pulled out the laptop that Cid had given him that he usually left at home. He placed it on the table and opened it up, revealing the pictures that Cid had sent them.

"From the looks of it, the deserts extend for miles all around the Heartless in these pictures," Vanitas explained. That means we're probably gonna find them in a particularly large desert: the Sahara."

"That's your lead?" Leon asked.

"You got another one?" Vanitas countered.

"Not really," Leon admitted.

"We leave early tomorrow morning," Vanitas announced. "Play the part of tourist, and rent a car to go out into the desert."

"If we were gonna go into the desert, why didn't we land in Egypt or something?" Leon asked.

"The Sahara is huge; it's in multiple countries on this continent," Vanitas pointed out. "We could drive there easily in literally any country we landed in up here in Africa. But I don't know the hotel situation in Egypt, and this one is really nice."

Leon raised an eyebrow at his ravenette friend.

"Hey, just 'cause we're on a mission doesn't mean we can't relax a bit," Vanitas said.

"He's got a point," Aerith admitted.

"Whatever," Leon said as he went to his room.

They slept the night and prepared for the trip in the morning. After a nice breakfast, they went out into the city and rented a jeep. Leon drove, partly because being twenty gave him the highest possible chance of them not getting pulled over, which was good. Since none of them had driver's licenses, or passports, or IDs, or even birth certificates for this world, they figured it would be a bad idea to be pulled over by police.

Leon drove the car into the desert and kept driving for hours. After a while, the midday sun was high in the air, but thanks to Vanitas, they were used to being in hot temperatures. Plus, the spell from his book he applied hours ago that adjusted their body temperatures to comfortable levels made it even better.

"You sure this is the right desert?" Leon asked.

"It's Africa, there's literally only two deserts here," Vanitas said. "I think we've got it."

"Didn't you say earlier that this place is huge, though?" Aerith asked in the back seat.

"One of the largest deserts in the world," Vanitas informed them.

"Are you kidding me!?" Leon exclaimed. "You mention that when we're hours on the road, with no discernible proof whatsoever that..."

Leon then yelled out as he swerved. A large black fist had slammed into the road and left a black puddle. The tires shifted slightly as they either ran over shadows or got stuck in the mud like darkness. Once they were out of the puddle, Vanitas looked in the rear view mirror to see a Darkside behind them raising its fist.

"I'd say that's pretty good proof," Vanitas commented.

"Guys!" Aerith yelled, pointing out the front windshield.

Their attentions were drawn to a large, six armed Heartless called Kurt Zisa bursting out of the sand. It spun through the air horizontally while spinning its blades, and the three ducked down in their car as the blades took out the roof and the tops of the seats. Since Leon couldn't see the road too well, he ended up swerving too hard to the left and made the car drive right into the sand, spinning wildly as it crashed into the ground.

The trio sat up in their seats and breathed in and out shakily as more Shadows appeared on the ground.

"Time to go to work, guys," Vanitas announced, slipping his sling off his back and reaching in deep with both hands.

"What about that thing?" Leon asked, gesturing to Kurt Zisa as it stood on both feet and held a _khopesh_ in the middle hands.

"I got him," Vanitas assured them.

Leon and Aerith climbed out of the car and ran across the sand towards the Shadows while Vanitas pulled his giant two handed rocket launcher. With a little difficulty, Vanitas aimed the launcher at the large Heartless and fired, causing a massive explosion that took Kurt Zisa out.

As Vanitas did that, Leon and Aerith charged at the Shadows. Leon slashed through ones that came near him while firing his gunblade at ones out in the distance. Aerith swung her quarterstaff at the Shadows, knocking them away. Once they were on the ground, she stabbed down with her staff, taking them out.

With Kurt Zisa destroyed, Vanitas replaced the launcher with a Norinco Type 56-1 assault rifle. He cocked it in preparation and started firing at the Shadows and the Darkside. Leon then charged at the Darkside just as it rammed its fist into the ground. Leon slashed at the fist before running up the arm and slashing even more at the head. Leon slashed his gunblade one more time and backflipped off, landing on his feet on the ground. Vanitas ran up next to his friends and fired at the head some more, soon finishing it off. The Darkside fell onto its back and disappeared into black smoke.

"Nice one, guys," Aerith complimented as she knocked a Shadow that leaped towards her out of the air.

"Thanks," Vanitas said, taking out another Shadow.

Within moments, they had taken down all the Shadows, and breathed in and out in slight exhaustion.

"Okay, so now we know this is definitely the desert they're migrating in," Vanitas said.

"Or they could have been sent because someone knows why we're here," Leon pointed out. "Either way, we gotta get back to the hotel and get the ship. The guns will work wonders against the numbers we've seen."

"Without the car, how are we gonna get back to the hotel?" Aerith asked.

"Hell if I know," Leon said.

"Hate to be the one to break it to you guys, but we're in for a long walk," Vanitas told them.

Leon and Aerith sighed out in sadness as the three of them turned towards the road, mentally preparing themselves. But then they stopped at the sight of large black cars driving towards them, then stopping in front of them.

"Oh, thank god," Aerith sighed out as she ran up to the cars before Vanitas could stop her. "Could you give us a ride? Please?"

The doors opened, and Aerith smiled at the sight of men of different ethnicities in black suits climbing out. But then that smile faded as the men pulled out handguns and pointed them at the trio.

"Oh, you'll get a ride, all right," a copper skinned man with an Egyptian accent assured them. "Get in, we're in for a long drive."

With their arms raised in surrender, Leon, Vanitas, and Aerith climbed into the backseat of one of the big cars, with one of the men in black closing the door behind them. The rest of the men piled into their cars and started the engines. Pretty soon, they drove past the wreckage of the jeep and continued down the road to unknown territory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Imagine the way Sora and Riku carried their cases of clothes provided by Yen Sid
> 
> *2 I've read two fanfictions where Frank West has a daughter named Francesca, nicknamed Frankie, who ends up in the same profession as he was. One has her involved in Dead Rising 2: Off the Record with him, and one in Dead Rising 4. What made them especially odd imo was that both the authors decided to pair her with villains in the game. But anyway, I decided to make her a character in this, so thank you to the authors who made her up who's names and story names I don't remember


	2. An Army (Story 1, Chapter 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aerith's first mission is going... about as well as to be expected. Unknown numbers of Heartless are gathered together on a form of Earth, and the gang just got captured and are being taken across Africa to who knows where. Pretty standard for their lives, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trust me, I've got lots of ideas for this story, some of them short and some of them consisting of multiple chapters. Quality will vary, I will admit

Aerith couldn't deny that a lot of bad things had happened so far on this adventure.

First, the hotel ran out of hot water and gave them pretty crappy breakfasts. Then, they had to travel across the desert for miles with nothing to listen to but someone's homemade CD of trumpet noises and braying donkeys. Then, their car crashed and they had to fight off some pretty big Heartless. And now, they've been captured by a bunch of Agent Smiths and were being taken to who knew where with guns pointed at their heads.

All in all, not a great journey so far.

"Maybe I should have known better than to trust sketchy guys in black suits," Aerith admitted.

"We'll give you this one since it's your first mission," Leon assured her.

"Thanks," Aerith said, gratefully. "But why couldn't V just take out guns and shoot them all? From what I've heard from you guys, it wouldn't be your first time killing people that are evil."

"True," Vanitas admitted. "But since you guys can be killed, I couldn't take action. I can't focus on one without one of the other pricks shooting you guys dead while I'm distracted. And I'd rather not tell Cid that it's my fault nearly half of the team is dead."

"Self preservation," Leon said, going with Vanitas's joke that he only cared for himself.

"Exactly," Vanitas agreed, continuing with the joke. "How am I gonna kill Xehanort if Cid cuts off both my arms and doesn't give them back to me?"

The ride continued in silence for a little while. During which Aerith noticed the landscape change from the desert back into forests. This was where the road got bumpy as they drove over various roots and through gashes in the dirt.

"Hey, where are you taking us?" Aerith asked.

"You'll see," a man with an African accent said.

"You know, whatever you're doing, you're never gonna get away with it," Vanitas told him. "We've got experience with dealing with pricks like you."

"Shut up," a man said.

"Or what?" Vanitas asked.

A gunshot then rang out, and Vanitas was thrown into the back of his seat shoulder first. The driver swerved the car in surprise a bit, but soon stabilized it.

"Or the next one's going in your head," the man in the passenger's seat said as he put away his handgun.

"That's a little excessive," Leon commented.

"Uh, I'm gonna have to agree with the prisoner, Smith," the driver said.

' _Of course one of them's named Smith..._ ' Leon, Vanitas, and Aerith all thought at once.

"Oh, come on, McCullough," Smith complained. "We have guns for a reason."

"I'm guessing Smith's a rookie," Vanitas muttered to Leon and Aerith.

"Here," Aerith said, grabbing Vanitas by the shoulders and making him lean forwards in his seat. "I'm gonna check for an exit wound. It'd be much easier if your jacket wasn't already red..."

"I don't bleed," Vanitas reminded her.

Aerith shot him an annoyed look before she continued checking his shoulder. There was, in fact, a hole in the back of the jacket, which meant that the bullet went through his shoulder. She could see a small hole in the back padding of the seat behind Vanitas, showing where the bullet had gone.

"It went right through," Aerith confirmed. "And now it's in the seat."

"Huh," Vanitas said, looking at his brunette friend. "Any blood?"

"No," Aerith confirmed.

"So no change," Vanitas sighed out as he looked at the back of the seat in front of him again.

After a little while, the desert landscape changed so it was much closer to a jungle, with a giant gorge not too far from a site with gigantic white tents set up, with an assortment of vehicles nearby, including a large tanker of gas. The black car pulled up, and Agents Smith and McCullough got out of their car before opening the back doors for their prisoners. They led the trio out at gunpoint and walked them over to the tall tents.

"So what are we doing here?" Leon asked.

"Our leader sensed your ship's arrival to this world," Smith said.

"He wanted to speak to you personally," McCullough added.

"Who's your leader?" Vanitas asked, looking at the men holding them prisoner.

"I am," a heavy African accent announced.

The trio turned towards the tent to see an African American man walking out, flanked by two more men in black suits with sunglasses. This man was also dressed in a black suit, but with a bright red tie and purplish dress shirt underneath. The man smirked in a cocky manner as he walked up to the trio.

"I hear you are the ones who decided to interfere with my operations," the man said. "Took out some of my Heartless out in the desert."

"Well, it is our job to destroy Heartless," Aerith said, determination on her face. But then she looked at Leon and Vanitas curiously. "Right?"

"That's one of them," Leon assured her.

"Well, that's fine, but as long as you don't do it here, we're super," the man said.

"Go to hell, fancy ass," Vanitas snapped.

"My, my, look at the temper on this one," the man chuckled. "If you weren't already here to stop me, I'd be trying to recruit you." *** _1_ ***

"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Leon asked.

"My apologies," the man said. "My name is Ekon Mostafa."

"Is that really your name?" Vanitas asked.

"Why are you asking?" Aerith asked.

"Mostafa means 'the chosen one'," Vanitas said. "And the way this guy carried himself as he walked up to us, something tells me that he's got a bit of a superiority complex."

"Oh, I do," Mostafa assured Vanitas. "But that really is my last name. Believe it or not, that was just a coincidence."

"Right," Vanitas said, not believing the man.

"What exactly are you doing with the Heartless?" Aerith asked.

"This world is in turmoil at the moment," Mostafa told them. "The September eleventh incident was just seven months ago, so the military is more preoccupied with the Middle East to even notice my faction growing out here in Africa. We will be able to strike within months with the help of my Heartless army."

"How are you gathering Heartless?" Leon asked.

"Just a little help from spell books my ancestors left me from a few thousand years ago," Mostafa admitted.

"Why are you telling us all of this?" Vanitas asked. "We're specially trained to destroy Heartless. We can take out your army easily."

"Oh, I doubt that," Mostafa said with a wide smirk.

He looked at Smith and McCullough, who nodded their heads at him. Mostafa started walking towards the gorge, and the two agents led Vanitas, Aerith, and Leon after the man. He stopped at the edge of the gorge and smirked as he looked down below them. As Vanitas, Aerith, and Leon stopped behind him, their eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, shit," Vanitas said softly, trying to hide his fear.

The gorge extended below and in front of them who knew how many feet, with the landscape forming half circles around the bottom. At least, a circle would have been formed if it hadn't been for the roads on opposite sides of the ground leading into canyons. The ground itself far below them was filled with who knew how many Heartless. Even from their distance this high in the air, the trio were able to see the Shadows, Soldiers, Darkballs, Wyverns, Large Bodies, and the Behemoths and Darksides.

"It turns out, the tribes around here worked perfectly as candidates to become Heartless," Mostafa said.

"Shit," Leon said, surprised at how nonchalantly the man talked about changing the people around here into Heartless, people who had probably done nothing to him.

"Like I said, I doubt that you could take out these numbers by yourself," Mostafa said with a smirk. "But still..."

He gestured to McCullough, who stepped towards Vanitas and grabbed the sling, slipping it off of Vanitas's back. He narrowed his eyes at Vanitas's back, seeing the hole from the bullet.

"Hey, Smith had shot this one on the car ride," McCullough said, gesturing to Vanitas. "There's even a bullet hole in these clothes and... a wound. But there's no blood."

"I'm like a demon from Supernatural," Vanitas told him.

Everyone frowned in confusion at his words. Vanitas looked up in realization.

"2002," he realized. "That show hasn't been invented yet."

"Oh, so you are the one I've heard of," Mostafa said with a small smile. "The former Keyblade Master without a beating heart. You know, because of that, I think I won't take any precautions."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aerith asked.

"Well, I was going to let you go," Mostafa admitted. "Let you leave the world and forget this had ever happened. But, with a Keyblade Master in your group, I think I'll just let you be executed instead."

Before Leon or Aerith could react, they were both hit in the back of their heads by the butts of the agents' sidearms, knocking them unconscious.

"Uh, that won't work on me," Vanitas said, trying to hide his worry for his friends.

"No," Mostafa agreed as McCullough pulled out a vial labelled "Sleeping Potion" from the top of the sling. "But this might."

Smith wrapped his arms around Vanitas and held him in place. McCullough walked around them and forced the sleeping potion down Vanitas's throat. he choked down the potion, and its effects took hold almost immediately, making him go limp in Smith's arms.

* * *

Leon groaned awake seemingly hours later, blinking away the bout of unconsciousness. The fact that he was knocked out by a blow to the back of the head wasn't helping him as he tried waking up. He blinked through the pain and his eyes opened wide almost immediately.

He was hanging by his ankles upside down by a vine in a tree, with Aerith and Vanitas on each side of him. Aerith was also groaning through the painful unconsciousness while Vanitas was completely blacked out from the sleeping potion he was forced to down.

"Aerith?" Leon woozily asked.

"Uh..." Aerith groaned through the pain as she looked through the spots to Leon next to her. "L... Leon?"

"You all right?" Leon asked.

"Not in the slightest," Aerith admitted. "My head is killing me."

"Mine, too," Leon groaned out. "I don't know how V does it, even if he can't feel pain."

"How's V?" Aerith asked, looking past Leon towards the anemic amnesiac.

"He's down," Leon said, looking at the ravenette.

"Could they have knocked him out with a gun, too?" Aerith asked.

"No, he still can't feel anything," Leon reminded her. "Whatever they did, it must have been effective."

He exclaimed as he looked down past his feet towards the sky, seeing that the sun had moved past the sky a bit more.

"It's some time in the afternoon," Leon said.

"So we've definitely been out for a while," Aerith assessed. She struggled against the vines tightly wrapped around her ankles. "I can't get out."

Leon exclaimed as he did his best to launch himself upwards. It took four tries, but he managed to get his head up close to his knees, holding onto his boots with his hands.

"I don't think they frisked us too much..." Leon muttered to himself.

He slipped the right leg of his pants down and reached into his boot.

"Yes!" Leon exclaimed in relief as he pulled a Kobalt pocket knife out of his boot.

"Since when do you carry a knife in your boot?" Aerith asked, confused.

"Since I got in a fight with this dumb-ass kid at Twilight Town, and the moron pulled a butterfly knife out of his pants," Leon told her. *** _2_ ***

"Oh, so that's how you got that scar," Aerith said in realization.

"Yep," Leon said, raising the knife to his ankles. He began to saw at the vines between his feet. "I'll be out of this in no time, then I can get you and V out."

The sound of something appearing behind him garnered Leon and Aerith's attentions. He looked over his shoulder and went wide eyed at the sight of a Stealth Sneak appearing. The giant lizard shot its tongue out of its mouth, and Aerith exclaimed as she managed to dodge the tongue before it could hit her.

"Leon!" Aerith yelled.

"Working on it!" Leon promised.

He sawed much more quickly at the vines while the Stealth Sneak charged towards them. When it started to get closer, Leon grabbed the vine holding Aerith and helped her up onto the branch.

"Get V!" he exclaimed as he finished sawing the vines.

The vines broke open, making Leon drop down to the jungle floor. He exclaimed as he landed on the ground, but then quickly rolled out of the way as the Stealth Sneak ran past him and right into a tree, causing damage to both the Heartless and the tree.

Leon quickly stood up and twirled the knife around so he was holding it backhanded. He charged at the lizard like Heartless as it was still dazed and started stabbing, as Vanitas would say, "like Michael Myers when he killed his sister." He exclaimed as he rammed his knife into the top of the Stealth Sneak's head, but then it spun around in a circle, knocking the brunette aside.

Leon landed roughly on the ground and looked up in surprise to see the Heartless staring at him, with his knife still sticking out of its head. As the Stealth Sneak charged at Leon, he prepared to move out of the way again, but then a fire ball appeared out of practically nowhere and landed on the Heartless, blowing up and knocking it back. Leon looked up in surprise to see Vanitas awake and on the tree branch with Aerith, a hand pointed right at the Heartless.

"Took you long enough," Leon quipped.

Vanitas flipped Leon the bird before pointing his hand at the Stealth Sneak once again. He concentrated, which caused blood to pool out of his nose, and the Stealth Sneak was thrown right into the tree with enough force that it fell to the ground and disappeared in a flash of light, releasing a crystal like heart and dropping Leon's knife.

"You all right, Leon?" Vanitas asked.

"I'm fine," Leon groaned in pain as he pushed himself to his feet. "How'd they get you?"

"Drugged me with my own sleeping potion," Vanitas said, casting a small bit of fire and burning down the vines holding him and Aerith to the tree.

Vanitas and Aerith exclaimed as they climbed down from the tree branch and landed on the jungle floor next to Leon.

"What do we do now?" Aerith asked.

"They took my gunblade, your quarterstaff, and V's sling," Leon said as he kneeled down and grabbed his pocket knife. "The only weapons we got are this knife and V himself. Unless you count the spells you know."

"It's mainly healing spells," Aerith admitted. "How are we supposed to take out a terrorist faction with an army of Heartless?"

"We get to that tent and get back our weapons," Vanitas said as if it was obvious.

"V, these guys have guns," Leon said. "How are we supposed to combat them with just a pocket knife and a psycho amnesiac pyro?"

Vanitas had to admit that he didn't have an answer. Luckily, one came in the form of the sound of two men talking nearby. He held up his hand and gestured towards where the talking was originating, and they started to creep through the forest towards it. Pretty soon, they were able to see those two agents, Smith and McCullough. Smith was being a moron and peeing on a tree.

"This is Africa, didn't you say there's all kinds of insects and animals in these trees?" Aerith asked Vanitas.

"There is," Vanitas confirmed. "That's why it's stupid that this guy has his dick out in this forest."

"So what's going on again today?" Smith asked as he faced away from McCullough, peeing on the tree.

"A meeting on top of the gorge with Mostafa," McCullough explained. "It'll start in a couple of hours. Everyone gathers to help rally the new recruits to the cause. You and I will stay back and guard the base, make sure no scragglers find us. And if they do, capture them so they can contribute to the Heartless army."

"All right," Smith said as he zipped his pants back up. "So, we heading back now?"

He turned around to face McCullough just as Leon charged the man and held his knife up to his neck. McCullough exclaimed in surprise as he felt the metal from the blade press into his neck.

"Mike!" Smith exclaimed, reaching for his gun.

"You bring out that gun, I bring out his larynx," Leon warned, looking right at Smith in warning.

"You act like I really care about this pussy," Smith snapped, grabbing his sidearm anyway.

"You prick!" McCullough snapped.

"Okay, get him, V," Leon said.

Smith had one second to look confused before Vanitas charged him from behind and wrapped his arm around the man's neck in a choke hold. Aerith charged from the opposite side and grabbed the handgun, pulling it out of its holster.

"Let me go," McCullough begged.

"Why should we?" Vanitas asked.

"I can help you against the cult," McCullough told them. "I'll help you take them down if you let me live."

"You traitor!" Smith snapped.

"Shut up," Vanitas said, tightening his grip around Smith's neck.

He looked up at Leon.

"What do you think?" Leon asked the ravenette, keeping the knife at McCullough's neck.

Vanitas looked into McCullough's eyes, seeing genuine-ness in the man's eyes. Sparing a quick look into McCullough's head, and getting a nosebleed in the process, he saw that the man had a wife and children, and was only doing this because he was afraid of the Heartless. A guy like him could come in handy.

"Let him go," Vanitas said. "But take his gun, just in case."

"Understandable," McCullough admitted as Leon took the sidearm out of McCullough's holster before lowering the knife.

"What do we do about him?" Leon asked, gesturing to Smith.

"He'd disrupt the plan," McCullough informed them. "He needs to be silenced."

"Oh, please," Smith asked, cockiness evident in his voice. "Like any of you have the balls to..."

Vanitas cut him off by grabbing his head with both hands and twisting it to the side with a loud crack. His neck broke, and he fell to the ground, dead.

Aerith gasped in surprise at the sight. She knew that they killed people sometimes on these missions, but seeing it and hearing it were two entirely different things. She was especially surprised by how nonchalantly Vanitas had snapped the man's neck. Was it because he knew it had to be done, or had he done it so many times at this point that he was impassive to it?

She was pulled out of these thoughts as Leon announced they had to get moving. Leon started walking out of the forest with McCullough leading the way, followed by Vanitas, followed by Aerith, who kept a bit of distance from Vanitas, still shocked from the sight.

"Is she okay?" McCullough whispered to Leon.

"This is her first mission to another world," Leon whispered back. "All she's heard are stories about where we've been and what we've done. Even with everything we've seen so far, she's never actually seen someone die. I get what she's going through. I reacted nearly the same way when I watched V kill someone for the first time."

"Who even are you people?" McCullough asked, incredulously. "You travel through worlds, fight Heartless, and apparently aren't strangers to having to kill people. Yet V there only appears to be fifteen, and miss Aerith only appears to be sixteen."

"Vanitas is a Keyblade Master whose Keyblade exploded in his face," Leon explained as they continued out of the woods. "It stripped him of his memories and his life force. He doesn't bleed or feel anything. Not even headshots can kill him."

"And _lots_ of people have tried that," Vanitas commented.

"Aerith and I lost our home world about three years ago to the Heartless," Leon continued. "We use a ship to travel to other worlds and help people against the Heartless, while also looking for the person responsible for V's problem."

"A fucker named Xehanort," Vanitas added.

"We have a base on the world Traverse Town," Leon continued. "We take in people whose worlds have been lost to darkness. Or people who decided to leave behind their worlds. V and I did that once with a young girl who's family was slaughtered by her uncle."

"And now little Jamie is having a surprisingly nice life with her new best friend, Katey," Vanitas said with a smile. *** _3_ ***

"If we fail and the terrorists and Heartless take over, I'd like me and my family to join you at this Traverse Town," McCullough admitted.

"We'll make sure that doesn't have to happen," Vanitas promised. "I like the town, but this is your home. You shouldn't have to leave it like these guys had to leave theirs."

They came out of the woods after a few more steps and found the truck that McCullough and Smith had taken to get out here. McCullough climbed in the front with Leon while Vanitas sat in the back with Aerith. They were on the road next to the forest for about twenty minutes before the back of the tent came into view.

"Get down, guys," McCullough instructed. "It looks like not everyone's left for the meeting yet. We need to hide you."

They all complied. Vanitas and Aerith ducked down behind the front chairs while Leon crouched down in the leg space of his seat. McCullough drove up to the tent and climbed out of the truck, walking around the tent and up to the entrance as Mostafa came out.

"Everything all right, sir?" McCullough asked.

"Oh, yes," Mostafa said with a smile. "We have twelve new initiates for me to rally in our meeting in just twenty minutes. You and Smith will be fine watching over the place, right?"

"Oh, sure," McCullough promised with a smile. "We'll handle things here."

"Where is Smith, anyway?" Mostafa asked, looking around.

"Oh, he's taking a nap in the back seat of the truck," McCullough lied, gesturing to the truck. "We were out there for a while, he wanted some rest before he have to start."

"Oh, good," Mostafa said with a smile. "Well, just as a precaution, I'll be leaving Jones here with you."

McCullough went wide eyed in surprise.

"Uh, why is Jones staying behind?" he asked.

"Well, after the scare with the Keyblade Master, I don't want to risk things," Mostafa admitted. "Jones will stay behind to help you and Smith. That won't be a problem, will it?"

"Oh, uh, not at all," McCullough said, trying to hide his nervousness.

"Well," Mostafa said, patting McCullough on the shoulder. "I wish you three good luck. Hopefully no new Keyblade Masters appear to try to stop us."

Mostafa and McCullough shared a laugh, Mostafa's genuine and McCullough's to hide the nervousness growing on his face. McCullough turned away from Mostafa and started towards the car, making his face into a nervous frown. McCullough walked back around the tent and to the truck and climbed in, and Leon, Aerith, and Vanitas's faces popped up.

"It looks like they're starting to leave for the meeting," McCullough told them. But before they could start planning things out, he continued, "But they're leaving behind Jonas as a precaution."

"Okay, simple," Vanitas said. "There's another guy appearing, so we just tie him up."

"It's not that easy," McCullough told them. "Jonas is one of the best soldiers here. He knows, like, six forms of martial arts."

"I know four, and I can't feel pain," Vanitas told McCullough. "I can take him."

"Vanitas, this guy can take a bullet like it was a simple mosquito bite," McCullough said. "What can you guys do?"

"You'd be surprised," Leon said.

"Go out and take your place in the tent," Aerith instructed. "We'll follow behind once everyone's gone."

McCullough didn't know what to say or do for a bit, so he just nodded his head and left the car, walking back over to the tent.

"You really think we can trust this guy?" Leon asked Vanitas as they watched McCullough walk to the tent.

"I looked into his head," Vanitas said in lieu of an answer. "The only reason he joined their group is because he was afraid for his and his families lives against the Heartless. With the numbers these guys have, it's understandable. We do this, and he and his family will be all right."

"Here's hoping," Aerith commented. She looked up to see people leaving the tent and start walking down the road, right towards them. "Get down!"

They ducked their heads back down and practically pressed their entire bodies to the floor as the terrorists went past the car and into the forest, walking along the top of the gorge. The trio made sure to stay down against the floor to make sure they wouldn't get detected while all the terrorists walked past the truck. Once they were sure that everyone had left, the trio popped their heads up and climbed out of the truck.

"That was rough," Aerith commented, rolling her shoulders as they ached.

"But necessary," Vanitas pointed out, taking the offered Beretta from Leon. "Let's go get back our weapons."

They went around the tent and went inside, seeing McCullough talking to a blondish man just a little taller than Leon. The man, who they guessed was Jonas, was facing away from them while McCullough was looking right at them. He made sure to hide his surprise at the sight of them, but kept his hands low to try to emphasize they needed to leave. Vanitas didn't listen to it and came up behind the agent with the gun flipped around. He rammed the butt of the gun into Jonas's head pretty hard...

And Jonas exclaimed in pain before turning around in confusion. He frowned at the three in front of him.

"Okay, that probably was a bad idea," Vanitas admitted.

He did his best to twirl the gun around in his hand to point it at Jonas, but the terrorist was faster. Jonas grabbed him by the arm and pulled Vanitas in before throwing him across the tent and making him drop the Beretta. Leon ran in and raised the knife, but Jonas caught Leon's arm before he could stab him. Jonas directed Leon's arm away, kneed him in the stomach, then punched him to the face, knocking him to the ground with a yell.

Jonas started to move towards Aerith, who had raised the Glock she was holding up to fire, but couldn't because she was afraid of becoming a killer. Which Jonas could see, so he walked towards her menacingly.

Luckily, Vanitas jumped up onto his back and wrapped his arms around Jonas's torso, yelling out as he forced the taller man back. Jonas exclaimed as he was pulled back, not expecting so much strength from someone so much shorter. Leon then ran up to the man and raised his knife, knowing that Vanitas wouldn't get hurt. Unfortunately, the man moving around so much made it harder to aim the knife, so he only ended up stabbing the man in the shoulder. Jonas yelled out and punched Leon in the face once more, knocking him to the ground again. He then head butted Vanitas with the back of his head, going right into the ravenette's face. Vanitas barely registered it, but when Jonas grabbed Vanitas's right arm and snapped it into an angle with both hands, he did have to let go. Jonas then grabbed Vanitas by the torso with both hands and slammed him to the ground onto his back.

Vanitas looked up to see Jonas pull the knife out of his shoulder, and look down at him with a very angry expression. He raised the knife.

"Hey!" McCullough yelled.

Jonas looked up just in time to get hit right in the face with Vanitas's aluminum bat by McCullough, knocking the terrorist to the ground, unconscious. Vanitas exclaimed as he forced himself up into a sitting position with his good arm, looking up at McCullough as he rested the bat on his shoulder.

"What do you think?" McCullough asked. "2nd or 3rd base?"

"I'd say home run, but I'm biased," Vanitas admitted.

Aerith sighed out in relief as she lowered the Glock. She slipped it into one of her belts and helped Leon to his feet while McCullough helped up Vanitas.

"Are you gonna be okay?" McCullough asked, looking at Vanitas's arm with concern.

"Oh, yeah," Vanitas assured him, snapping his forearm back into place. He looked at Aerith. "You mind?"

"Not at all," Aerith assured Vanitas.

She raised her hands, and green light flared in them before Cura appeared around Vanitas, mending the bones and closing the hole in his shoulder from when Smith had shot him. Needless to say, McCullough was surprised at the sight.

"Heartless are one thing, but that was amazing," he commented.

"Thanks," Aerith said. "Now let's get our weapons."

They went across the room they were in and started grabbing their gear off the table. Aerith grabbed her quarterstaff, Leon grabbed his gunblade, and Vanitas wrapped his sling onto his back again. During this, Aerith passed Leon the Glock since she still didn't want to be tempted to use it.

"All right, so what's the plan?" McCullough asked, handing Vanitas his sling.

"From the looks of it, all this cult has as leverage is their army of Heartless," Leon said. "I know this sounds impossible, but we've gotta find a way to destroy them all."

"You're right, that does sound impossible," McCullough said. "You saw those numbers, right?"

"Kind of hard to miss them, Mike," Aerith said.

"If we had the ship, this would be so much easier," Vanitas commented. "The guns on that thing, _man_!"

"There's gotta be something around here that could help us out," Leon suggested. "I mean, a terrorist group, they've gotta have some heavy artillery."

Leon started looking around the front room of the tent, while Vanitas and Aerith looked up in realization. They shared a look and ran out of the tent, quickly eying the tanker on the other side of the road. They grinned at the sight of it. Leon and McCullough ran out of the tent to see the two staring at the tanker, and they quickly realized what was running through the two's heads.

"Uh, that much gas alone isn't explosive," McCullough told them.

"I know, but..." Vanitas said, kneeling down on the ground.

He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a piece of C4.

"That much gas combined with a shit ton of explosives is explosive," he said with a smile.

"Okay, that'll work," McCullough said with a smile. He looked up. "We can attach the tanker to that van; it can hold much more explosives inside than most of the other cars."

"I like the way you think," Vanitas said, straining as he pulled the large box of explosives out of his sling. "Like the sling, this thing is bigger on the inside. There's like 400 pounds of C4 in here, along with who knows how many grenades and claymores. Leon and and McCullough, you guys unhook the tank from the truck, Aerith and I'll get the van in place. Once it's in place, we start filling it up with explosives. Let's move, mofos!"

The quartet went to work as fast as they could.

Leon and McCullough ran to the tanker and Leon set the Glock down on one of the wheels and started unhooking it from the truck. McCullough looked up and quickly grabbed the Glock, pointing it up. Leon went wide eyes at the man's actions. Leon closed his eyes as McCullough pulled the trigger...

But then he opened his eyes back up as he heard a body hitting the ground. He turned around and looked down to see the terrorist Jonas on the ground, Leon's knife in one hand, eyes open but with a bloody hole in the center of his forehead, signifying that he was dead. Leon looked back at McCullough to see the man lowering his sidearm and an apologetic expression on his face.

"Sorry for the scare," McCullough said, offering the handgun back. "I saw him coming, and knew I had to act fast."

"No problem," Leon said, gesturing with his hand, letting the man know he could keep his gun. "Thanks."

Vanitas and Aerith rolled up just a few minutes later in the van. They were surprised at the sight of Jonas's dead body on the ground, but they shrugged it off as they opened up all the doors. The four of them started taking C4 out of Vanitas's crate and started lining the walls of the van before they just started piling the explosives on top of each other. It took them a while, but they managed to fill up the back seats and the passenger seat up to the brim with explosives, before they started on the back. Pretty soon, all they could see in the van was Driver's seat, dashboard, and explosives, including a large, three foot long missile that had Vanitas grunting as he lifted it out of the crate. Vanitas closed the trunk and started setting up the detonator while the others attached the tanker to the back of the van. They finished attaching the tanker to the van just as Vanitas finished setting the detonator.

"All right," he breathed out, standing up and popping his shoulder bones in preparation. "This isn't gonna be easy. It's gonna have to be a classic case of jumping out of the car right before it goes over the edge."

"How often do you guys do that?" McCullough asked.

"V and I have done it six times each," Leon admitted. "It hurts quite a bit."

"I'll drive the van," Vanitas said. "Worst case scenario, the explosion sends me across the gorge and burns the hell out of my body. All I need is an Elixer to put me back to normal."

"All right," Aerith said, nodding her head. "You got the detonator?"

"Oh, yeah," Vanitas said, holding it up in his left hand. He pointed at it with his right hand. "I've set it up for fourty-five seconds. It might seem a little excessive, but we need time to get it across the sand and down the gorge so it can crush enough Heartless. We only get one shot at this, so we need to do this only when we're absolutely ready."

As he spoke, he repeatedly pointed at the detonator with his right hand to emphasize how important it was that they couldn't screw up. Unfortunately, the third time he pointed at it, his finger got too close and ended up hitting the button that started the timer. Everyone went wide eyed and quickly looked at the detonator as the timer started counting down.

"Oh, shit!" Vanitas exclaimed.

He dropped the detonator and climbed into the driver's seat of the van while the other three started running away screaming in fear. Vanitas started the engine and started driving right towards the edge of the gorge, quickly and repeatedly exclaiming, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, _**fuck**_!"

Panting heavily, Vanitas watched as the edge of the cliff got closer and closer. Once he was sure it was close enough, he opened the door of the van back up and leaped out, landing roughly on the ground while the van and tanker kept going across the earth.

Luckily, the van still had enough in it to keep driving itself right over the edge. Vanitas and the others gathered at the edge of the cliff to watch the van and tanker stumble down the side of the gorge and crash in the middle of an outcropping of Darksides, crushing them and releasing a bunch of grey smoke. Aerith lifted up the detonator and watched as the time got even lower.

"Three..." she announced. "Two... one!"

Vanitas, Leon, Aerith, and McCullough all exclaimed as they looked away, closed their eyes, and covered their ears to brace themselves for the explosion.

However, nothing ended up happening, so they looked down the gorge in confusion, seeing the van and tanker still right in the middle of a bunch of Heartless.

"Huh," Vanitas said. "That was disappointing."

Then the C4 went off, causing a gigantic explosion that was only helped by the gas in the tank, and possibly the missile in the trunk. The explosion was so large that more than half of the army was destroyed as fire flew up so high in the air it rose past the gorge and went at least twenty feet over the groups' heads.

"HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT, THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!" Vanitas exclaimed, excitement in his voice as the wind from the blast blew up everyones' hair.

"Oh, my god, that rocked!" Leon exclaimed. "It's now hot as shit, but it is _so_ worth it!"

Aerith and McCullough laughed in agreement.

However, all of their attentions were drawn to the nearby forest when they heard yelling. They turned to the side to see the terrorists pointing at the four of them while yelling out, noticeably angry.

"Let's take these pricks out," Vanitas announced, taking out his aluminum bat.

"Agreed," Leon said, hefting his Gunblade.

Aerith twirled her quarterstaff in preparation while McCullough pulled out his Glock.

The terrorists charged towards them, some of them wielding machetes, and others with handguns. Aerith twirled her staff around and knocked the handgun out of one man's hand before knocking him to the ground, then raising her staff in defense from a machete. McCullough shot one man in the knee to make him fall to the ground before shooting another man in the chest, killing him. Vanitas smacked one man in the face with his bat, making him fall to the ground, before grabbing him by the shoulder and chucking him right down the gorge into the fire. Leon deflected two machete strikes before knocking down one terrorist and slashing two others across their chests, killing them.

Pretty soon, all the terrorists were knocked aside or dead on the ground. Vanitas kicked the last man on the ground in the head, knocking him unconscious and bringing a sudden bout of calmness to the area.

"Was that all of them?" Aerith asked.

"No," McCullough said, looking around. "I don't see Mostafa."

"Weird, isn't it?" Mostafa's voice rang out.

Everyone jumped and looked around in confusion, surprised that they couldn't see the man anywhere. Then McCullough was knocked to the ground, almost as if he was punched in the face. Leon, Vanitas, and Aerith stood back to back to back as they realized that the man was most likely invisible.

"Now, that was rude, wasn't it?" Mostafa's voice commented. "I offer you a nice and easy death, and you come back and blow up my entire army."

"Nice and easy death?" Vanitas asked. "You sicked a Stealth Sneak on us!"

"You'd be surprised at how easily they gobble down people," Mostafa commented. "Well, I'm not making the same mistake as last time. I will finish the three of you off myself, right here, right..."

Vanitas interrupted the man by snapping his fingers, and fire appeared in the air in the shape of a book. Mostafa exclaimed and dropped his spell book to the ground, where it burned. After a few seconds, the fire had spread through the book enough that the invisibility spell wore off, revealing the man to the trio. He looked up sheepishly at the three, who were pointing their weapons at him.

"You know, in retrospect..." Mostafa started to say.

But then Aerith charged forwards and hit the man in the head with her quarterstaff, knocking him unconscious and making him fall to the ground.

"What do we do with this guy?" Leon asked.

McCullough exclaimed as he stood up, a hand on his cheek as it throbbed in pain.

"We kill him," he said.

"No," Vanitas denied, surprising the group.

"No?" Aerith asked, especially surprised.

"Those other guys, it was spur of the moment, or making sure that idiot screw up the plan," Vanitas said. "This guy, we don't need to, so we're not going to."

Aerith nodded her head, impressed. She didn't expect this from him, especially not after how she had twisted Smith's neck. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he tried to present himself as.

"Besides, I don't wanna kill this Keith David looking motherfucker," Vanitas added with a small laugh that Leon and Aerith joined in on.

"So, if we're not gonna kill him, what do we do?" McCullough asked.

Vanitas looked down at Mostafa and hummed in contemplation...

* * *

They ended up tying the man up and leaving him in front of CIA headquarters with a flash drive full of records of all his misdeeds in attached to a string around his neck. Needless to say, the guy who had answered the door was certainly surprised at the sight.

Once that was done, they took McCullough back to his home town in Michigan, where they said their goodbyes.

"My family is safe thanks to you three," McCullough said gratefully with an icepack to the side of his face. "Thank You isn't doesn't even begin to cover things."

"We're just doing our jobs," Leon assured the man with a small smile.

"Fighting Heartless and saving people," Aerith added with a smile.

While they gave McCulloughs handshakes and a hug goodbye, Vanitas looked around an outlet store to see if there was anything interesting he could add to the wardrobe in his sling. It didn't help that since it was 2002, Fall Out Boy technically wasn't that big of a band yet on this world, so he couldn't find any shirts that he was interested.

"Oh, come on!" an annoyed voice exclaimed from the register.

Curious, Vanitas looked up and walked towards the register, seeing a young boy around fifteen years old with brown, center parted hair standing in front of the counter, two jackets on the counter and a middle aged woman looking at him with an unapologetic expression.

"I only need one of these jackets!" the boy exclaimed with a slightly high pitched voice. "Just the blue and white one."

"Sorry, but they're part of a set," the sales lady said, still not sounding sorry at all. "The blue and white goes with the red and black, and we're almost out of stock. They both need to be bought at once, so double the price."

"This is such bullshit!" the boy exclaimed.

Vanitas had to agree, that business deal sounded like bullshit. He narrowed his eyes at the two jackets on the counter. They weren't leather, but they looked like motorcycle jackets. One was blue with a white mark under the chest and grey that started under the white and continued down to the bottom of the jacket, along with some black lining on the inside of the arms. On the forearms was what looked like the word SKIND in white, and when the lady lifted up the jacket, Vanitas could see the same word in white with a pointed white mark underneath it on the back. The other jacket was similarly designed, but where the first jacket was blue, the second one was black, and where the first jacket was white, the second one was red. Vanitas had to admit, the jackets weren't half bad.

"Hey," Vanitas said, walking forwards. "Which one are you trying to get."

"Uh, just the blue and white one," the boy said, surprised at Vanitas's presence. (While also surprised at how deep the ravenette's was in comparison to his own high pitched one.)

"And you don't have enough money for both?" Vanitas asked.

"No, he doesn't," the sales woman said with a small laugh.

"Well, you're in luck," Vanitas said, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. "That red and black one looks interesting. How much?"

"Thirty for each jacket," the sales woman said.

"I only had enough for the one," the boy said.

"Well, here you go," Vanitas said, taking out a twenty and a ten and putting them on the counter next to the boy's thirty.

"All right," the sales woman said, taking both the boys' and Vanitas's money. "Whatever works."

"Thank you," the boy said, gratefully, taking the blue and white jacket.

"No problem," Vanitas said, taking the black and red jacket. "It looks nice. Just one question... What's SKIND? Or... SKINO?"

"I don't know, either," Julian admitted with a small chuckle. "I just think it looks cool."

"Well, you're not wrong," Vanitas said with his own laugh as the two walked out of the store.

"Really, thanks so much for helping with that," the boy said as they walked out onto the sidewalk. "My friends and I have been spending a bit more time using up most of our allowances to save up for these dirt bikes we're into."

"Understandable," Vanitas admitted. "I've been there."

He held out a hand.

"Vanitas Jordan," Vanitas said. "Feel free to call me V."

"Julian Garrison," Julian said, shaking Vanitas's hand. "Nice to see we can be jacket buddies."

Vanitas chuckled as he looked to the side to see a taller African American boy and shorter blonde girl in glasses and pigtails walking towards them.

"These your friends?" he asked as they got closer.

Julian looked over his shoulder to see the two reach him.

"Oh, yeah," he said. He gestured to the three of them. "Cody, Becky, this is Vanitas. He helped me get the jacket."

"Oh, man, that jacket'll definitely look good when we finally get the bikes," Cody commented, smiling down at it.

"I can see it now," Becky said, raising her hands up as if to set a scene. "Us riding around on those beasts with Powerman 5000 playing in the background."

"Heavy metal," Vanitas said with a nod of the head. He pointed at Becky. "When Worlds Collide, or Nobody's Real?"

"Oh, When Worlds Collide," Becky said.

"Oh, yeah, that one's one of their best songs," Cody agreed.

Julian nodded in agreement while Vanitas smiled widely and lifted his hands up in excitement.

"Can I adopt you guys as my brothers and sister?" he asked, only about twenty percent seriously.

Everyone shared a collective laugh at that, and when Vanitas turned to the left to see Leon and Aerith staring at him expectantly, he sighed out in sadness.

"Oh, man," he said, depressed.

"What's wrong?" Julian asked, looking towards Leon and Aerith.

"I gotta go with them," Vanitas told them. "We're leaving the... country. Going to Romania for a year."

"Oh, that's too bad," Becky said, disappointed. "You'd fit in well with our group of friends."

"Yeah, we need a guy who sounds like a porn star," Cody said.

They shared another laugh.

"Well, when you get back, make sure to look me up so we can hang," Julian suggested.

"All right," Vanitas said, reluctantly turning away from the trio. "Try to remember me."

"I'll remember how you helped me get this jacket," Julian promised. He smirked. "And I'm definitely gonna remember that hair."

Vanitas laughed once more before waving goodbye at the trio, who waved back as the two groups walked away from each other. Vanitas walked up to Leon and Aerith and sighed out in content as they started their way back out the city to where the ship was hidden.

"Nice jacket," Leon complimented as Vanitas slid his arms into the sleeves of the red and black not leather motorcycle jacket.

"I know," Vanitas said cockily.

"But what's SKINO?" Aerith asked. "Or... SKIND?"

"Who fuckin' knows?" Vanitas asked.

Leon gave a small chuckle as they continued out of the city, content with a job well done.

Aerith definitely had one hell of a first mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *1 Not gonna lie, when I originally thought up this character, I wanted him as a usual African man with a heavy African accent. But as I wrote this, I ended up realizing how much I pictured him as Keith David as Simms in Tales From the Hood 2. He was pretty good in that role even if some of the stories were weird, even by supernatural horror standards. So, I think I'm gonna imagine that as the man
> 
> *2 I saw on the wiki that Leon got the scar on his face in Final Fantasy by getting in a fight with Seifer, which was also how that guy got his own face scar. That's a reference to that very fight, which I'll get to eventually
> 
> *3 That's a reference to another short story that we'll get to eventually
> 
> If you want a reference for what the jackets look like, look at the picture at the bottom of chapter two for the KH/Winter Soldier crossover story. Guy on the far right is Julian, and that's what the jacket looks like. Like I say under the picture, imagine the blue as black, and the white as red, and you've got Vanitas's jacket
> 
> The problem with writing prequels is that when you include characters in future installments and put them in danger, you know that they'll survive, so there isn't as much tension when they're in dangerous situations. Like when watching a prequel horror movie. You know, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, or Wrong Turns four and five. You know they survive, so there isn't as much tension when they're in danger


End file.
